ECOH: Environment Care with a One Health approach is one of the chosen projects of the One Heath Network Funds 2021/2022, led by Ing. Apolonia Rodriguez Gonzales.
The environment can be described as indispensable as it houses all life on earth, and evidence suggests that activities in interaction with nature not only provide physical and psychological benefits but also socially and economically.
Nonetheless, we are currently confronted with many environmental challenges, including climate change, loss of biodiversity and degradation of natural habitats, which have adverse health outcomes for animals, humans and our shared environment. Furthermore, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, additional threats have emerged such as an increase in the use and disposal of plastic products for medical and non-medical applications and the amount of packaging used to deliver food and groceries to residences, leading to significant challenges in handling solid and hazardous medical wastes. This could become a crucial concern in the medium or long term, whilst aggravating the already existing issues, especially in countries with inadequate waste management systems.
Recognizing this, environmental education has become more relevant than ever in ensuring a sustainable future by promoting responsible decision-making at the individual, institutional and community levels. The strengthening of environmental literacy through formal and informal educational strategies at different stages of the life course, considering day-to-day situations, will eventually allow for the development of capacities in the population, thereby conserving our shared environment.
Project aim:
The project's main objective, therefore, is to empower the community for environmental care through educational strategies based on local needs in Guatemala and Bolivia.
This is to be achieved using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach by forming a multidisciplinary and intersectoral working group that includes professionals from the academy and representatives from diverse sectors like education, work, transportation, legislators and civil society. The project also follows a spiral approach, focusing on a problem and continuing with planning, action, observation and critical reflection, giving rise to a new progressive cycle. To better disseminate the project and population adherence, a digital platform app is to be designed to make available all the education material and specific guides that support this process.
Ultimately, creating awareness and educating, based on evidence, about our actions' impact will allow a better co-existence and promote sustainable development, sustainable use and care of natural resources when considering practices in rural and urban communities.
Communication materials ECOH:
The project team has developed and makes available to the CIHLMU network two videos: